Miscelaney

The law of cause and effect. Some call this karma, other’s base this on the Newtonian principle that every action produces an equal and opposite reaction. Irregardless of what your belief system is, there’s really no disputing that if you put your hand on a hot stove, it will burn. This is obvious (and instant) cause and effect. But what about those not-so-obvious (nor instant) actions of ours? Actions that would/could fall into this karmic-zone, if you believe you reap what you sow?

The other day I was walking along Lake Washington Boulevard (the eastside alternative to Seattle’s Greenlake in terms of a great place to exercise outdoors). As I walked by several groups of people who could use a friendly hand, I could literally hear a cha-ching (like the noise Farmville–that game on Facebook–makes when you sell your crops and earn some money) in my head as I offered to take a group picture or patiently held a crosswalk flag for an elderly couple. While clearly I’m playing too much Farmville, it got me wondering if karma was indeed like a bank where we make deposits and withdrawals by our daily actions and if each action is weighted with a distinct value, like a point system in a video game?

This got me thinking further…do small, karmic deposits add up, padding the account for when automatic, universal, and mandatory withdrawals occur (perhaps lessening the overall debt to be paid)? Or depending on the size of the withdrawal, if we maintain a high enough balance in our account to cover the unexpected draw on funds, perhaps this [karmic] transaction occurs without our ever knowing? Does our karmic bank offer overdraft protection? Lines of credit? If so, can it call in a loan if we take too long to pay if off? 

I don’t really know how much we can affect our own fate and I certainly can’t account for why bad things happen to good people (nor am I gonna try), but I do believe if we put good out into the universe, we’ll get good back. Maybe not instantly, and maybe not in the way we expect, but unless we make an effort, our cups will have a hard time “running over”.  And the same goes for negative energy.

Back to the Farmville analogy—your farm stays stagnant unless you plow the land and plant the seeds. You have to put forth some effort in order to harvest the crops, which results in money to further your farm and keep you moving forward in the game. But of course, real farming (or life) isn’t that easy. There are many unexpected and difficult variables (drought, freezes, bugs, poor soil quality, supply and demand, etc., etc.) which will hinder your yield from year to year. That’s all part of it (and no one ever said it would be easy). You reap what you sow, or at least a percentage of it. And sometimes, you have to keep on sowing, even if there is no instant return, because if you don’t, there is no chance for anything to prosper down the line. And other times, without additional effort, you just have a banner year.

Maybe we are adding (or perhaps subtracting depending on our actions) to our personal karmic bank accounts on a daily basis. Maybe we are simply putting good (and bad) energy out into the universe. Either way, based on our actions we are creating an equal and opposite reaction (somewhere, someway) from everything we do, whether we realize it or not. It’s kind of overwhelming mind blowing, if you really think about it. Keep this in mind the next time you are refusing to let some fool cut in front of you on the road or if you could easily offer a much-needed hand to someone through very little personal effort. Eventually enough pennies do fill a jar.

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